Daughter tells South African court she lured her mother to killers for funeral policy payout
An Mpumalanga woman has told the Mbombela high court that she led her mother straight to a group of killers, then stood at the door. Daughter — full details…
An Mpumalanga woman has told the Mbombela high court that she led her mother straight to a group of killers, then stood at the door and watched as they pinned the 62-year-old down and strangled her for an R80,000 funeral-policy payout.
The testimony from Nonhlanhla Mthunywa, now a state witness, laid bare a family plot that prosecutors say ended in the death and rape of Wanter Dlamini. Mthunywa said the killing followed failed attempts to poison her mother and a shooting plan that never came off. Dlamini was finally killed after being lured to the home where the attack took place.
State witness details the plot
Mthunywa told the court the scheme grew out of a conversation with her neighbour, Nombuso Ndwandwa, about “quick money”. She said her sister, Bathabile Mthunywa, and friends joined the plan. Ndwandwa’s boyfriend, known as Nkunzi, was also involved before he later died.
She arrived in court with her feet shackled. The witness has already admitted her role, struck a plea agreement with the state and is serving a 20-year prison sentence after saying she could not sleep because her mother was haunting her.
According to the testimony, Mthunywa lured Dlamini to the attackers, then kept watch as they held her down and killed her. The court heard that the mother was first poisoned, then targeted in a shooting plan, before the fatal strangling.
Family members on trial
Bathabile Mthunywa, 39, Ndwandwa, 41, and Steen Mashakeng, 36, are on trial in the Mbombela high court for the murder and rape of Dlamini. Mashakeng is Nonhlanhla Mthunywa’s boyfriend.
The case has drawn attention in South Africa, where funeral-policy payouts have occasionally surfaced in murder prosecutions and where courts have seen a string of brutal killings tied to family disputes, revenge or money. This trial, though, stands out for the intimacy of the betrayal. A daughter, a sister and neighbours. One dead mother.
The state says more evidence will follow as the trial continues. The accused remain before the court, while Mthunywa’s testimony has already fixed one detail in stark terms: she says she stood at the door and watched her mother die for R80,000.
